Preparing a Disaster Plan
Do you have a plan to protect your companion animal during a disaster or emergency?
Disasters such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and cyclones strike the world’s population more than 400 times every year, killing, injuring and displacing millions of people and animals.
Use the guide below to prepare an emergency plan for your companion animals before the next disaster strikes.
Step 1: Plan Ahead
Evacuation Planning
- Never leave companion animals behind unless absolutely necessary.
- Identify safe places for your companion animal, such as trusted friends and family, companion animal-friendly shelters or hotels, and local vet clinics or kennels.
- For horses and animals like cows, goats, pigs, and sheep, identify a safe paddock or transport route.
- Microchip companion animals and update their registration.
- Keep companion animals in an accessible room if they tend to hide.
Safe Shelter
- Arrange a backup caregiver for your companion animals and share your plan with neighbors.
- Research companion animal-friendly shelters and keep contact details in your emergency kit.
- Provide a spare key to a trusted person in case you’re away.
Remember the “ABC” of Companion Animal First Aid
Familiarizing yourself with companion animal first aid ahead of time will better prepare you for an emergency.
- Airways: Check for blockages.
- Breathing: Monitor for distress.
- Circulation: Ensure a steady heartbeat.
Common Emergencies
- Burns: Cool with water for 10 minutes, then seek vet help.
- Wounds: Clean with saline, apply pressure, and bandage if bleeding.
- Poisoning: Call your vet immediately.
- Seizures: Do not restrain, move away from hazards, and call your vet if the seizure lasts over 5 minutes.
- Bites: Clean wounds, monitor breathing, and seek care.
Step 2: Prepare a Disaster Survival Kit
Just as you do with your family’s Disaster Survival Kit, think first about the basics for your companion animals–food, water, and warmth. Prepare two Disaster Survival Kits:
- One kit for if you need to stay at home for up to three days.
- One more portable, lightweight version (Getaway Kit) for when you, your family, and your companion animals need to leave quickly.
Remember: If where you are is not safe for you, it is not safe for your animal companions. Place these kits somewhere easy to reach in a hurry. Make sure everyone in the house, including a neighbor, knows where they are kept.
Always re-check these kits for expiration dates to ensure supplies stay fresh–particularly food, water, and medicine. Water should always be replaced every six months to ensure freshness.
Disaster Survival Kit Checklist
Essential Supplies
- Food: Store at least three days of your companion animal’s canned or dried non-perishable food in an airtight, waterproof container (remember the can opener!) and refresh periodically. Ideally, this should be the same food you normally feed your companion animal to avoid stomach upset.
- Water: Store at least seven days’ worth of water for your companion animal, in addition to the water you need for your family (remember, companion animals can drink more water than usual when stressed). You will also need extra water to clean up after your cat.
- Medications: Store extra medications, supplements, flea/tick/heartworm prevention, and essential vet-recommended supplies in a waterproof container.
- Veterinary/Medical Records: Keep copies of vaccination records, vet contact information, and insurance details both physically (in a waterproof container or ziplock bag) and digitally (Google Drive, Dropbox). These records should include your vet’s name and telephone number in case you have to board your companion animal or place them in foster care.
- Identification: A collar with an ID tag (name + phone), a microchip (updated info), and recent photos of your companion animal (including one with you). Include a backup collar and tag in your Disaster Survival Kit.
- First Aid Kit: Store extra cotton bandage rolls, bandage tapes, scissors, tweezers, and latex gloves in addition to those required for your family. Talk to your vet about any other requirements, such as antibiotic ointment and saline solution (e.g., eye wash solution separate from family use).
- Bedding: Include blankets, cloth bedding, and alfalfa/hay/paper bedding for small animals (e.g., guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters).
- Comfort Items: Familiar items like a favorite toy or pillowcase your companion animal can bury into can help reduce stress.
Equipment
- Carrier and Leash: Ensure your companion animal’s carrier is well-ventilated and spacious enough for comfort. Practice loading your companion animal into their carrier calmly.
- To reduce stress for birds, use a sturdy, non-cardboard cage with a cover. Your bird may have to stay in the cage/carrier for several days, so be sure to include any favorite toys.
- For horses, include a halter, lead, and any other equipment that will help you handle your horse. Additionally, a horse float can transport your horse safely and ensure they cannot escape. Your horse may have to stay in the float for hours at a time.
- Sanitation: Pack waste bags, litter, paper towels, cleaning wipes, gloves, diluted bleach, and for horses, a spade.
Step 3: Practice Your Plan
To ensure your family and companion animals can move fast and feel comfortable if you need to stay put in a disaster, you should practice getting your family into your safe place in the house (where your Disaster Survival Kits are kept).
Time yourselves and give it another go from time to time to see how fast (but not panicked) you can operate. Then, try a practice evacuation to your chosen ‘Safe House/Shelter.’ By practicing evacuations, your companion animals will get used to entering and traveling calmly.
Bonus tip: try doing both practice runs in the dark. This will ensure you can navigate quicker if a disaster strikes during the night or if there is a power cut.
Advocate for Change
Encourage your community to consider the needs of all animals during natural disasters. Share resources, spread awareness, and support policies that require emergency shelters to accommodate companion animals (as not all do). This ensures that families don’t have to make the heartbreaking choice between their safety and their companions’ well-being.
The information, guidance, and recommendations contained on these website pages (“Information”) is based on World Animal Protection’s understanding of good practice for animal welfare emergency planning. World Animal Protection uses all reasonable efforts to ensure that the Information is accurate at the time it is published. However, World Animal Protection makes no guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the Information and does not commit to keeping the Information updated. World Animal Protection excludes all liability of any kind whatsoever (including negligence) for loss, injury, or damage (whether direct, indirect, or consequential, and whether foreseeable or not) suffered by any person or animal resulting in any way from the use of or reliance on the Information. The Information is of a general nature only and is not intended to cover every emergency situation. In no way should the Information be seen as a replacement for specialist advice. Please contact your vet for specific advice regarding your companion animal(s).